The Historic New Orleans Collection's New Orleans Antiques Forum, which kicks off July 31 runs through Aug. 3, is an annual summertime gathering of decorative arts experts and enthusiasts, all drawn to the French Quarter for spirited discussions on everything from paintings and pottery to mourning jewelry.

Cost: Program sessions start at $100. For a full schedule, go to hnoc.org/antiques.htm or call 504.523.4662.

This year's theme is "Southern Expression," which begs the question: What qualifies an antique or a decorative object to be called "Southern?"

"For me, it's as simple as objects made and used by people who lived and worked in the American South," said Daniel Ackermann, associate curator of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, N.C., and one of the speakers at this year's forum. Decorative objects "were influenced by the geography of the South, the unique ethnic and cultural mix of the South, the economy of the South, and that incredible attachment to home that I don't think you find in other places."

Ackermann's presentation, on Aug. 1 at 10:45 a.m., will focus on the use of digital tools for researching decorative arts. We caught up with him by phone last week to chat about the ways in which geography and culture shape furniture and aesthetic design. An edited transcript follows.

Q:The South isn't a homogenous place. What do you consider "Southern Expression."A: The South is a huge place; even defininig it is hard. When our museum was founded, our founder needed to draw some borders for (the scope of) our work. We concentrate on the Old South (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky), not the Deep South. But in my work, I've seen that as soon as you cross the Appalachian mountains, you begin to see the New Orleans sphere of influence.

Q:What's an example of that?A: I've been doing a lot of work in Kentucky on furniture with little cabriole legs -- the bandy leg chest. While the chest of drawers form is a very Anglo form, the bottom on these, from the skirts to the feet, reflects what was happening in New Orleans (in the 18th and early 19th centuries), more of a French style. So you get this hybrid on the frontier. They were generally made out of cherry with poplar as the secondary wood. We're not sure how many craftsmen were doing these, but there's enough variation in them, that there had to be multiple craftsmen. It reflects the consumers choosing this style, and it's linking the Old South and the Deep South together.

Q:What are some other traditional furniture pieces or objects strongly associated with the South?A: There is a form called the bottle case or cellarette. It's a box on legs with dividers inside for storing alcohol. It's a form we see more in the coastal South than anywhere else in the decorative arts. It provided secure, lockable storage for your alcohol in the 18th and early 19th centuries. That form morphs in the 19th century into a sugar chest. Sugar was expensive, and you would want to protect and preserve it. The styles run the gamut from really simple divided boxes to elegant pieces of furniture.

The julep cup is another iconic Southern form. If you think about outdoor sport and entertainment in a time before plastic, the julep cup was the ultimate way to project your status in the field. If you were really somebody, you would travel with a silver cup. They were lightweight, stackable, packable and a status symbol. There were silver cups other places, but nowhere else do they reach iconic status like they do in the South. And there's nothing better on a hot summer evening than a cold beverage in a chilled silver cup.

Q:Are there characteristics that give you a clue to a piece's Southern provenance?A: Different trees grow in different places, so you have wood signatures. In Louisiana, if I'm looking at an 18th-century piece, I'd expect to see cypress. In South Carolina, if I was looking at a piece from Charleston, I'd expect to see mahogany and cypress. But in Virginia, I'd expect to see walnut and yellow pine.

Q:Is this your first trip to New Orleans?A: No, my family is originally from New Orleans, and I still have cousins there. My grandmother was born in New Orleans 100 years ago. She's looking forward to coming down, and I'm looking forward to introducing my 9-month-old son to his first beignet.